International Noir

Homer B. Pettey and R. Barton Palmer

Abstract

This volume examines the influence of noir for global cinema. Close historical analysis of British and national cinemas, especially French and Japanese noir, demonstrates the global popularity of both film noir’s cinematic style and narrative. A chapter devoted to British noir explores the history, style, and innovations of this burgeoning style for the pre- and post-War British film industry. Two chapters explore the historical and continuing interdependence French film and noir, from Poetic Realism through the New Wave to contemporary films. Contemporary French noirs have developed an intert ... More

This volume examines the influence of noir for global cinema. Close historical analysis of British and national cinemas, especially French and Japanese noir, demonstrates the global popularity of both film noir’s cinematic style and narrative. A chapter devoted to British noir explores the history, style, and innovations of this burgeoning style for the pre- and post-War British film industry. Two chapters explore the historical and continuing interdependence French film and noir, from Poetic Realism through the New Wave to contemporary films. Contemporary French noirs have developed an intertext and pastiche of subcultures ranging from the upheavals of 1960s to punk, all with an evolving noir aesthetic. The Japanese film industry has a long tradition of film noir, from Kurosawa’s early films through the resurgence of Nikkatsu crime melodramas to Fukasaku’s yakuza films and the contemporary Maiku Hama private eye parodies. One chapter will analyze the pre-War and early post-War noir in Japan, while the other will be devoted to contemporary Japanese noir. In order to demonstrate the range of noir’s influence within national cinemas, chapters explore innovations in film narrative and techniques to several neglected global cinemas in the noir canon, specifically Scandinavian noir and its literary adaptations, Chinese and Korean noir, and Bombay noir. The final two chapters extend the generic and aesthetic influences of film noir, beginning with the post-1970s and the development of neo-noir to contemporary, postmodern world cinema. [232 words]